How To Use ICT for Cooperative Learning

How to design effective learning situations? This question was central in the action research project ‘Task based team learning with ICT’ (1999 – 2001), jointly executed by the University of Utrecht (IVLOS) and the Professional University of Utrecht (Cetis), and sponsored by the Dutch national initiative SURF Educatie<F>. In this project students in either full-time or part-time studies are seen as junior-professionals developing their career. This approach ties in with developments in life long learning where the students are professionals who want to extend their “competences”. A range of learning situations was identified building one upon the other that would allow students to develop all required competencies. Characteristic of the learning situations is that these are realistic mirrors of professional situations graduates will encounter when starting there working life. Teamwork is integral part of these learning situations.

Typology of learning situations:

• Assignment based: the student/professional functions in a reproductive role in which standard problems are recognised and solved in a standard way; the student/professional assesses way of working and result against standards.
• Task based: the student/professional functions in an executive role in which typical, task related problems are solved using task oriented methods; the student/professional assesses method selection, way of working and result against standards.
• Problem based: the student/professional functions in a tactical role in which non-standard problems are solved using adapted methods; specifications for the result have to be developed; the student/professional assesses specifications, method selection, application, way of working and result against standards.
• Situation based: the student/professional functions in a context determined, strategic role in which worth-while problems have to be identified, just as suitable methods for solving; the student/professional assesses selection of problem and methods, application, way of working and results against standards.

In most learning situation team work is implemented to enhance learning. Characteristics of these typical learning situations are summed up in Table 1. Let us examine two of these typical learning situations in more detail: Task based learning and Situation based learning.





Task based team learning
The project ‘Task based team learning with ICT’ offers learning environments in which students will work on a task (in relation to a profession or a function) co-operating with other students in a team to produce the requested result. ICT plays an important role in this, both as professional tool and as communication tool. Task based team learning has three dimensions: task, team learning and ICT.

Task
In their educational career students work on tasks that have an evident relationship with the profession or the function in which the student will work after completion of the study. In the project ‘Task based team learning with ICT’ students are either educated as medical doctors (University of Utrecht) or as economic or business professionals (Professional University of Utrecht). Task based learning implies a functional approach to education and educational development. Tasks are modelled after professional tasks and belong to a profession, a function or a distinct problem area. In some disciplines this will be easier to achieve than in others, but the idea is that the activities of the professional, be it a general practitioner in medicine, a physics researcher or a business process advisor, are central in the educational design.

Task oriented learning puts activities, productivity and creativity of students in the forefront, with a lot of room for student initiative. This didactic approach is linked with the constructivist and social-constructivist insights on effective and efficient learning, based on student motivation. The aim of task oriented learning is to facilitate development of capabilities of the student in a task domain.

Team learning
Team based learning is closely connected with the constructivist approach of learning. Students work together on a complex professional task, and in different roles. These roles are related to the content of the task. A choice of which role to play is depend on the capabilities of the student and on what capabilities the student wants to develop. Co-operation of students in groups will not necessarily be effective. Johnson and John-
son differentiate the following levels of effectiveness [JJ94]:

• Pseudo group: there is no incentive for co-operation, group members do not help each other, but work to create disturbances and misunderstandings; the group result is less than the sum of the potential results of the group members.
• Traditional group: group members are in principle willing to co-operate, but do not see much gain in this co-operation; the work will be structured in such a way that most things can be done individually; members only feel responsible for their own part of the group work, but will share information on how task can be undertaken. the group result is more or less the sum of the potential results of the group members.
• Co-operative group (team): group members work to attain a common goal and to maximize own and collective success of high quality; social competencies are developed and applied, effectiveness of group and group members is analysed and remedial actions are undertaken; the group result is more than the sum of the potential results of the group members.
• High performance group: this is a co-operative group in which members have great commitment to both their own personal development and that of others, and also have great fun working in the group. Effectiveness of co-operation in groups can typically be enhanced by the following measures [JJ94]:

1. Arrange for high quality, face-to-face interactions,
2.  Arrange for positive dependency of group members on each other so that they can experience the positive effects of peer explanation and peer support; arrange for decisions to be taken by the group (not by the teacher coach) on the basis of consensus.
3. Arrange for individual responsibility within a group context; each member of the group should be responsible for own performance and for the performance of the group as a whole.
4. Let students develop competencies for co-operation through meaningful group tasks, positive feedback and decision making on the basis of consensus.
5. Let students monitor their own and the groups work; without monitoring the group cannot be sure that it is performing well. 

ICT
Task based and team based learning are impossible without ICT. Performance of tasks in normal professional life depends on ICT tools.  In performing their task students will use the same ICT-tools as the professional: generic tools (Office Suite, Webbrowser, etc.), but also discipline specific tools that are used in professional practice. Team based learning has to be supported by groupware tools.

In task based learning it is essential that use of ICT is a necessity for effective performance. If students perceive use of ICT as forced, both in task performance and in team support, they will work around using it. Design of task based team learning situations should take account of this.

Situation based team learning
In situation based learning students are placed in a real business or organizational environment where they are expected to identify and solve problems as these appear in reality (situation based learning). Such a situation based learning environment may be referred to as a Virtual Company or virtual organisation. In its purest form a Virtual Company is a learning student organisation, an organisation in which both the knowledge of the workers (students) and the knowledge of the company will be developed. A Virtual Company is a realistic business setting in which students play different roles, based on reality.

Virtual Company
Aim of the Virtual Company is to offer students a realistic setting for working and learning. Realistic means that students can identify themselves with specific, recognisable roles from business reality. The Virtual Company is a didactic concept. One of the important characteristics of the virtual company is authenticity. The ideal starting point is a factual business assignment that allows professional competencies to be developed in actual business context. If, for one reason or another, artificial assignments are given, the learning situation develops in the direction of simulation and/or gaming and critical authenticity may be lost. So, acquisition of virtual business assignments should be in the focus of a Virtual Company. Another important characteristic of the Virtual Company has to do with control: is it teacher or student centred? The first thought might be that
teacher control of competency development of students is the natural approach. On second thought, however, second line control through quality criteria leaves more room to students for role differentiation and role identification.

Characteristic components of a Virtual Company
A Virtual Company as learning organisation characteristically has the following components:

• Business aim: the business aim is twofold; on the one hand design and realization of products and  services of innovative character, on the other hand development of generic knowledge about this design and realisation, and the management thereof (learning organisation).
• Business organisation: the business organisation is team based with participating management.
• Working method: the working method is project oriented and allows optimal realization of business aims; the working method guarantees quality of the result.
• Business culture: business culture is one of shared responsibility and participation.

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